Friends Forever?
by ChocoboHead
Summary: Zack and Aerith have been living alone together in the Lifestream for quite some time, that is, until Zack finds an old friend in his old age and the twosome become a threesome. Will there be some striving for Aerith's attention?
1. Chapter 1

She sighed; it had been a long time, a very long time. Aerith played with her ribbon, impatiently, twirling it many times around her braid. Her mind was somewhere else when two large hands reached over and covered her eyes.

"_Guess what I saw…"_ he chuckled.

"What? Where have you been?" She giggled. That was the reason she loved it here so much. _He _was the reason she liked it here so much.

After removing his hands, he quickly kissed her and started playing with her curls.

"After eighty-three years, ninety-seven days, four hours, seventeen minutes, and six seconds…_guess who I ran into…_," he sang.

"I can only guess, Zack."

He clicked his tongue and pointed behind his shoulder. There, was an odd, old, little man. He looked quite confused.

"I had pudding…where's my pudding? I could have sworn…I was eating pudding…wait, where am I? Who are you people?" the grey-haired man rambled, and pointed over to the two youngsters.

"There's…no…way…" she gawked.

Zack could not help but laugh at her reaction, the confused old man, that little, old, old, man, had at one time been her boyfriend.

"Yeah," he smirked, "he's let himself go hasn't he?"

"No…no…" she lied, staring at the ex-SOLDIER. There was no doubt though, in Zack's mind that he was going to have some fun with this…

"I can fix it, you know…" he smiled an evil grin.

"Really, Zack? How?" She asked.

Zack pretended to roll up imaginary sleeves, "Let me work my magic…"

Aerith waited patiently as Zack strode over to the old man. He awkwardly put one arm far in front of him and greeted Cloud.

"Hey, Cloud. Long time, no see?" He grinned. "Wait, you _can_ see me, right?"

"Who are you?" Cloud managed to wheeze out.

"You don't remember your best friend? Cloud, I am offended," Zack, pouted.

Then, Zack did something that no one should do to the elderly, but considering that this_ was_ in fact Cloud…it didn't really matter much to him.

Zack's arm whipped out and hit Cloud smack in the back of his head. With a low chuckle, Zack inspected his best friend.

"Why the heck did you do that for?" Cloud yelled, voice cracking.

Zack muttered something under his breath, causing Aerith to get curious.

"What was that, Zack?" she asked.

"I said his hair was still a bit grey!" He yelled. Immediately, his hand swung through the air, smacking a fifty-year-old looking Cloud, back into his early twenties.

"How's that, Aerith?" Zack asked, squinting his eyes at his work. He smirked, "can I do it again? This time, no age effects, promise."

"I'm not sure…" she giggled.

"_Please_, I'm begging. NO MORE!" Cloud was practically on his knees!


	2. Chapter 2: Forgive and Forget?

Zack couldn't help himself; he was on the floor laughing like he was delusional. "You…can't….even…take…me…now…STILL!" He managed to utter through his wild laughter.

"That wasn't very nice Zack," Aerith pouted, hands on her hips.

"Aw…I'm sorry Aer, lemmie make it better," Zack joked, getting up. Without even moving a muscle, he was standing right in front of Aerith.

He bent his neck just a bit to reach her lips—

"Still here," the blonde noted, glaring at the couple. Zack looked irritated, he liked it when Aerith felt like flirting and Cloud just ruined it!

"Well," Zack muttered, "You see, I was trying to apologize for actions."

"Well it isn't that great when a complete stranger is in the room and you decide to flirt with your girlfriend!" Cloud hollered.

"Cloud…" Aerith addressed him quietly, "don't you remember us?"

"Nuh-uh…maybe…nah that was Yuffie."

"He remembers Yuffie, and not me!" she shrieked.

"Let's calm down Aer," Zack patted her arm, "It's probably a bad memory, you know, he probably doesn't know…old person."

"Is it really true, Cloud?" she asked patting his arm, "have you honestly forgotten?"

"Yes…" he hung his head in shame. This woman was obviously –at least at one point—very important to him…he racked at his brain for a few seconds and stayed quiet.

"Cloud?" she asked, grabbing his hand.

* * *

(Flashback)

_Cloud was lying face down in a field of flowers, but it wasn't a field…He looked around to discover the flowers were growing right out of the floorboards of a church. He glanced up and his eyes met two beautiful, sea mist green eyes…_

"_Trust me, this will work," she beamed at him, pulling at the sleeve of a lavender dress on the rack, "we'll save Tifa."_

The last memory was painful, _Cloud, unable to free his emotion, quietly put Aerith into the Lifestream and watched her drift slowly down…_

"_Dilly dally, shilly shally!"_

(End Flashback)

* * *

"Cloud?" Aerith asked, waiting for him to snap out of his trance-like state.

"Gaaaaa, I've missed you, Aerith!" Cloud shouted as he practically attacked his old friend.

"Cloud, you remember!" she giggled, straining to escape.

"Cloud," Zack interrupted, but the two did not stop, "Cloud…" now he was aggravated, "CLOUD!" he boomed.

"Huh?"

"Tifa's your girlfriend. Aerith is mine."

"Don't claim me," Aerith warned, flirtatiously, but it was still a warning, never the less.

"Sorry…"

"Sir, and your point is? I was just catching up with an old friend…" Cloud stated, lifting an eyebrow.

"…And what am I?" Zack ordered.

"You're you, I suppose…" Cloud said, quite serious.

"Cloud," Zack said, putting an arm around his best friend's shoulder, "what's my name? Just out of curiosity…"

"I dunno, you never told me your name."

"Just as I thought…he doesn't know," Zack mumbled, sinking to the floor.

* * *

**Ch 3 is coming! Will Cloud remember Zack? I don't own the characters nor do I own the Lifestream, if I did I would be richer than ShinRa and would not be typing this story now. By the way, where is Rufus? You'll find out in Ch 3!**


	3. Chapter 3:And you are?

"Cloud…" Aerith said both patting Zack's head and holding Cloud's hand. Her green eyes sparkled, which captivated both boys. "Don't you remember Zack?"

"…No…I…don't." His brain was practically smoking.

"Remember…please? Zack, Zackary Fair?" She pressed. Aerith took his hand with both of hers. "You do remember your family, correct?"

"Yes, but…Oh my GOSH! IS ZACK OKAY?!" Cloud immediately leapt to his feet.

"Is he okay?!" Cloud asked again.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Zack said, smirking, "took ya long enough!"

"…Zack," Aerith whispered, "he wasn't talking about you. Have you forgotten about Zack, Zack?"

"Um…yeah." At least he is honest!

"He's with Tifa, he's absolutely fine," Aerith comforted, "Don't you remember who you named Zack after?"

"I remember!" Zack yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Yes," Cloud recalled, "we named him after a…a hero…some guy…that saved my…life. His name was Zackary R—,"

Zack clapped his hand over Cloud's mouth, "if you say that name aloud," he hissed, "you'll die…again."

"Yo, he's only been here for… like what, twenty minutes…and you're already threatening to kill him?"

Everyone knew who _that _voice belonged to.

"What do you want Reno?" Cloud demanded.

"Great," Zack hissed, "he remembers Reno."

"Shuddup, Zack," Aerith whispered.

"Awwwww," Zack mumbled, "You swore…"

"Not really, you've said worse."

"True."

"Oh, a SOLDIER fight," Rufus greeted, walking into the middle of the scene, "this is something I've been waiting to see for a long time."

"_Oh look at me_," Zack and Reno mocked in unison, "I'm Rufus Shinra and I'm a pretty boy who has so much money and I have enough to help with the better good, but you'll never see it! Ahahahahaha!"

Both men leaned backwards for emphasis of their comment.

"We weren't really gonna fight," Zack mumbled, crossing his arms.

"Yeah!" Cloud stated.

"Cloud," Rufus welcomed, "good to see you. Hey, did you know your wife, Tifa, is still alive? Why don't you go haunt her or something?"

Then he added, "Zack why don't you help out?"

"Um…"

Neither man knew where this was going. His former boss' son annoyed Zack, and well, Cloud was being…Cloud.

Let's just get one thing covered. Rufus kinda had a thing for Aerith. She was _very _oblivious towards his feelings and always thought of him as a good friend. Who would have thought, right?

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Zack said, blowing off Rufus and roughly dragging Cloud away, "C'mon Cloud."

"B-but I don't wanna haunt Tifa!" Cloud yelled, digging his fingernails into Zack's arm.

Zack just rolled his eyes, "Cloud," he said, "haunting people is fun. You get to become an animal and follow people around like a stalker! It's really great."

Zack's definition of a "haunting" wasn't the type that made Cloud feel really warm and fuzzy inside, but did he honestly have a choice?

Nope.

* * *

"Soooo Aerith," Rufus tried, "What's up?"

"The sky!" she answered cheerfully.

"Not exactly what I meant," he sighed.

"It wasn't?"

"No."

"Oh, okay then!" Aerith turned and skipped away.

"She isn't the brightest, is she sir?" A young Turk was standing behind her boss.

"No Cisseni, she isn't."

Rufus turned to meet a girl with reddish-brown hair. He had heard her story before; she had died from an explosion three years after Zack. When Rufus came to the Lifestream, he met her and she automatically dropped everything and started her job again.

"Now I see why Zack loves her," she sighed, "She's beautiful and has no clue whatsoever."

"Yep, that's so true

* * *

**There's chapter 3! (Yay.) Sorry for the wait, anyway, I don't own the characters nor the Lifestream, because if I did you'd all be under my rule. Mwahahahaha!!**


End file.
